Plays out like an extended One Step Beyond, Outer Limits, or lesser Twilight Zone episode. Although the wedding scene is pretty creative, most of the fx are way cheap. 49 year-old Richard Carlson rocks a pair of tight white swim trunks in the lead. The story was fairly interesting; wouldn't mind seeing a remake. Also note that Joe Turkel (Lloyd the bartender from The Shining) plays the creepy blackmailer.

I liked this movie, it was different and kept my attention throughout. However, I was a little disappointed when the main character began to show his flaws. I thought the ages between the two sisters was slightly ridiculous, and Tom looked about as old as Meg's father, but the casting people often do that sort of thing. Also, the boat driver kept talking like a beatnik and we know that square wasn't from nowheresville Daddy-O. I forgot to mention the film stopped half way and there was a blank screen and then some writing about a production company and part 2, blank again and then the movie progressed.

one of the original reviewers mentions the beach looks "too rocky for swimming" - it's obviously Malibu before it was covered in buildings, many films were shot here and for decades, some of the are great and many really stink.

Just in case you decided to go swimming there, be advised - the homes have septic systems and there are high bacteria counts in the water in the Summer... it's not the rocks that'll get you, I went diving there for decades and it's a shadow of what it used to be.

"Kiss me deadly was filmed near here, and Matlock, and numerous TV shows, such as Rockford Files, the only good thing what's his name ever did.

Sure it's camp, it's kitsch, but it was filmed 50-60 years ago. The garbage they're filming now will be camp in another 60 years too. This was great stuff, fun to watch. Never dis a Vi, that's my advice.

I saw this in the 60's at a small hometown movie house that played second run "B" movies on Saturday afternoons. I loved it then and it is even better today. A welcome break from the modern high tech fare being force fed to the public these days. Younger viewers may not care for it but if you remember salty popcorn and watered down soda on a summer afternoon at the movies you may like it too.

The moment the guy's eyes began the "I AM GUILTY AS SIN" look 3 words screamed across the screen.. CRAP CRAP and CRAP! I would have been forced to gouge my eyes out had I watched any further under penalty of law. It should be retitled, "Audience Tortured!"
Whoever released this ought to have been shot immediately without even the chance to explain just how bad it was.. I might just gouge my eyeballs out and burn them anyway in hopes I'll grow new eyes.
Did I mention this one STINKS with a capital STINK?
It's not so bad it's good.. it's so bad that you'll have to boil your brain in bleach after 15 minutes of viewing!

This little gem has it all...it falls in with the,"So Bad it's good"...club!
Take notice on how big the lighthouse door and bottom part of the building is compared to once inside...what a hoot!
The fall is a remarkable sedate affair...pose ,plead for help ,pose again then scream and splash...special effect are out right laughable as they should be for this ,"so bad it's good" film.
What ever were they thinking when they produced these drive-in flicks? Could the cast,director actually keep a straight ,serious attitude ? if so HOW ? This is well worth the fun watch...thank-you for up loading a new feature ..enjoy:)

I like Bert I. Gordon's laughably bad, but somehow charming sci-fi/horror melodramas, e.g. Beginning of the End, Attack of the Puppet People, Village of the Giants. Here he tried his hand at staight horror and failed utterly. It didn't help that Richard Carlson starred. A grade C actor, he's even more unlikeable than John Agar.

Basically, the story goes nowhere fast with no action, no suspense, nothing scary, little drama, and boring dialog.

I just finished watching this gem. I rather enjoy the old fifty's ghost stories, but I had never heard of "Tormented" before. Classic fifty's drive-in camp. Will be watching this again sometime.

from IMDB:

On an island community off of
California, Tom Stewart is preparing
to marry the woman he loves. His plans
are threatened by his old girlfriend,
Vi, who shows up secretly. During a
confrontation at the top of the island's
lighthouse, the railing breaks and Vi
falls. Tom has a chance to save her but
doesn't. Tom's relief at Vi's accident
soon fades when her vengeful spirit begins
showing up wherever he goes.

-Written by C. Robert Stevens {crstevens@mail.utexas.edu}

"Save me", is the line you hear over and again in this movie, ironically enough.
There are lots of lines that describe the movie in the movie; "This can't be good" for example.
Still it's so campy you have to see it.

This is without doubt the best quality print of this movie I have seen. Much better that the DVD release and a pretty decent story.

Jazz pianist Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson) tries to break it off with his lover, a desperate, brassy barroom singer named Vi (Julie Reding). She is incensed at being ditched in favor of Tom's wealthy young fiancée, and threatens to tell all about their affair in hopes of derailing the wedding. Their emotional quarrel takes place in the tower of an abandoned lighthouse, and when the railing breaks and Vi is hanging on for dear life, Tom consciously withdraws his helping hand, and she plummets to the sea. Though he reasons to himself that he did not actually take her life, Tom is aware of his part in her death, and he tries to ignore the guilt. But Vi's ghost will not rest, and is intent on making herself heard; not only that, but a blackmailing beatnik knows too much for Tom to let him live. Tormented is a fine B-grade chiller that overcomes some hokey effects and budgetary blemishes to tell a fun, fast-paced tale of morality and mayhem. Richard Carlson is a little old for his intended bride (he appears to be sucking in his gut through most of the picture), and his wooden expression never changes, whether he's practicing the piano or stuffing his dead girlfriend's disembodied head into a bag. His character is such a crumb that there's great satisfaction in watching his life fall apart, and the audience is sure to root for the ghostly Vi and cheer on her supernatural pranks. Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will know Tormented already (see episode #414), though there's certainly other films far more deserving of their sarcasm, and director Bert I. Gordon is himself responsible for a bushelful. Tormented can be found unmolested as a special feature of the Monsters Crash the Pajama Party: Spook Show Spectacular DVD.

I'm surprised that no one has had anything to say about this gem. I'll say something now in order to give it some of the attention it deserves.

This film has a great campy 50's feel. The protagonist is a cool jazz-pianist living on an island with a light-house. His troubles begin when he dumps his jazz-singing girlfriend for a woman with a spooky little girl. The singer is really a lot sexier than the woman with the little girl, so maybe the jazz-pianist's troubles begin a bit earlier.... Bad taste in women?

There are some great (funny) melodramatic moments, as when the singer threatens to expose the pianist by publishing his letters. After giving this salvo time to register, she asks to "see the light," or something to that effect. He shows it to her all right.

Very fifties-Freudian. She leans against the railing, while ranting & railing. It breaks, she falls, with a great scream -- but dangles for a moment while he deliberates whether or not to save her. Will he, or won't he? What about those letters? We all know what happens.

The rest of the film describes his "torment," by guilt or an actual ghost. Most of the tension is over our not knowing which. At first it looks like he's merely hallucinating. Then others start to see the same things. Are the phenomena real, or are they hallucinating too? Or is everything one big hallucination in the jazz-pianist's tormented mind?

A lot of "torment" all around. Also a lot of typically repressed sex. The jazz pianist spends the first half of the movie in bathing trunks, though the beach doesn't look especially good for swimming (too rocky). I only wish I had his hair (white gloves and swimming trunks don't match, however). The singer has a pretty good figure too. They're both offset by the little girl, the fiance's daughter, a spooky chit if ever there was one.

The movie also features a nice jazzy score by Alber Glasser. Also, some interesting bit parts, like the messenger who attempts to blackmail the pianist. He seems more "hep" -- jazzier -- than the pianist himself, a lot cooler. Maybe that's why he's on to him....

Interesting trash. Actually a lot more interesting than most "high quality" stuff. How come?